Pierre Graber

Pierre Graber

Pierre Graber (born December 6, 1908 in La Chaux-de-Fonds , † July 19, 2003 in Lausanne ; resident in La Chaux-de-Fonds and Langenbruck ) was a Swiss politician ( SP ) from the canton of Neuchâtel . As a member of the Federal Council , he headed the Political Department for eight years and was therefore responsible for Swiss foreign policy. In 1975 he held the office of Federal President and signed the Helsinki CSCE Final Act on behalf of Switzerland . Graber was married three times: in 1931 he married Margarete Gawronsky, this marriage was divorced in 1936; In 1939 he married Lina Pierrette Meilland, who died in 1974; in his third marriage from 1977 he was married to Renée Noverraz (nee Renée Avilon).

Career

Pierre Graber (third from left) at the Federal Council trip in 1972 with his Federal Council colleagues

Pierre Graber's father Ernest-Paul Graber was a politician of the Social Democratic Party (SP) and a publicist . Pierre Graber studied law, business and administration at the University of Neuchâtel and became a lawyer in Lausanne in 1933 . He belonged to the (SP). He held the following political mandates at the time:

• 1934–1945: Municipal Council ( Legislature of Lausanne)
• 1937–1946: Cantonal Council
• 1946–1949: Mayor of Lausanne
• 1949–1962: Municipal Finance Director
• 1962–1970: Councilor of State , head of the cantonal finance department
• 1942–1969: National Council
• 1966: President of the National Council

He was elected to the Federal Council on December 10, 1969 and took office on February 1, 1970. During his tenure he headed the Political Department. Graber was Federal President in 1975 and Vice President in 1974. On January 31, 1978, he resigned as Federal Councilor. In 2003 he died of heart failure in Lausanne.

At the beginning of 2016, based on research by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the assumption was made that Graber, through the mediation of Jean Ziegler, concluded a secret standstill agreement with the then openly terrorist Palestinian Liberation Organization PLO - without the knowledge of his Federal Council colleagues: Switzerland should therefore be spared further terrorist acts stay, but she supported the PLO in their efforts to gain diplomatic recognition at the UN headquarters in Geneva. Shortly afterwards, for unknown reasons, charges were not brought against a Palestinian suspect of the attack on Swissair flight 330, which left 47 dead. This representation, in turn, is questioned by other contemporary witnesses and sources. A working group from the federal administration found no evidence that would have confirmed the thesis of a secret agreement.

Visits abroad

year	Country
1970	Democratic Republic of Congo
	Netherlands
	Luxembourg
	France
1971	Austria
	Belgium
	Finland
1972	United Kingdom
	France
	Sweden
	Italy
1973	Egypt
	Austria
	Israel
1974	People's Republic of China
	Sri Lanka
	Germany
1975	Austria
1976	Tunisia
	Spain
	Austria
	Greece
1977	Belgium
	France
	Sweden
	Portugal
	Spain

Works

• Memories and reflections. Editions 24 heures, Lausanne 1992, ISBN 2-8265-1096-7 .

Web links

Commons : Pierre Graber  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pierre Jeanneret: Graber, Pierre. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Pierre Graber in the database Dodis the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
• Pierre Graber on the Federal Council website
• Obituary for Pierre Graber, former President of the National Council and former Federal Councilor. In: parlament.ch of September 15, 2003.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marc Tribelhorn: Swiss Terror Years. Der Machtmensch , portrait, Neue Zürcher Zeitung from January 22, 2016.
2. ↑ Marcel Gyr: Up close and personal with terrorists , Neue Zürcher Zeitung of January 20, 2016.
3. ↑ Marcel Gyr: Swiss Terror Years Jean Ziegler's Secret Mission , Neue Zürcher Zeitung of January 20, 2016.
4. ↑ Phillipe Reichen: There was no secret deal with the PLO , Tages-Anzeiger dated February 6, 2016.
5. ↑ Philippe Reichen: Graber's secret crisis agenda , Tages-Anzeiger, February 12, 2016.
6. ↑ The Federal Council takes note of the report of the interdepartmental working group "1970". Retrieved July 10, 2017 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Franz Josef Kurmann	President of the Swiss National Council 1965 - 1966	Alfred Schaller
Willy Spühler	Member of the Swiss Federal Council 1970 - 1978	Pierre Aubert